The present invention relates to artificial implants for human bodies in general, and more particularly to intraocular lens implants to be introduced into human eyes after the natural lens has been removed.
There are already known various constructions of intraocular lens implants and ways of mounting the same in the eyeball, either in the anterior chamber or in the posterior chamber. Such implants are shown, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,991,426; 4,053,953; 4,056,855; 4,134,l60; 4,159,546; 4,268,921; 4,296,501; 4,338,687; 4,343,050; and 4,403,354. Such implants are held in position in the eye by either being secured to the iris or its stroma, or by being equipped with holding means which brace themselves against the internal surfaces bounding a part of the respective anterior or posterior chamber of the eye in which the lens is to be mounted.
Experience with the heretofore known intraocular lens implants has shown, however, that the incision that has to be made into the eye in order to be able to introduce any one of the known implants into the respective chamber must be relatively long. It is also known that, the longer the incision, the longer it takes for it to heal, the greater the danger of rupture of the incision postoperatively, and the greater is the danger that scar tissue which forms during the healing process will interfere with vision. Moreover, the tissue of the iris is incapable of healing if torn or otherwise damaged so that, if the lens is to be introduced into the posterior chamber through the pupil of the iris which is artificially dilated during this operation by the use of appropriate drugs, the relatively large size of the lens implants according to the prior art could occasionally result in permanent damage to the iris. Yet, heretofore, there was not proposed any approach which would avoid these problems, even though the existence of such problems has been recognized by those skilled in the art of eye surgery.